6 Months and NO Sells!!!!

[broadband-engine]

Hi

If you were to look at your competition, such as www.boysstuff.co.uk or www.firebox.com and also www.alt-gifts.com you will see they have lots of eye catching content on their pages. This includes good, often tongue in cheek product descriptions with the product image itself against it.

In the case of your site the product descriptions are on another page I would personally not bother clicking on the title link to view the description (also the product link to description page does not look like a link at all)- I want to see it there on the page with the product image against it.

I noticed also there is nothing in the way of search engine optimisation on the site. I suggest looking into getting some SEO advice, there are plenty of tips on this forum. I think it would be a good idea to create an optimised page for each of your products, for example:

start with a simple URL
http://gadgetxs.com/lavnav.htm

on this page have all the meta data fields complete, so have a descent page title, description and keywords. Then have some good text explaining the product and some pictures to complement everything. Link to your cart from there.

Create a Site Map and place all the simple URLs to your products in a list, this will get spidered eventually. These optimised pages are more likely to get hits than the likes of...

http://gadgetxs.com/catalog/product...id=50&osCsid=ad0e7309bc2fc1614b650388a6b95f17

Hope that helps a bit.

Cheers
Phil

 

[kyber]

What Phil said.

You really need to compare your proposition with your competition. Ask some friends (pref. non technical people) to compare/review your site against selected competition. That is not to say that they have it right and you have it wrong, there is always room for a different approach but it is not apparent that you have one as yet.

I find your site a little hard to use. I might be too sleepy from a bad night but I found the navigation menu at the top hard to read and the overal bright white background a bit much. I am not sure that yellow on blue is a good combination for menus and you really do not need to use poor graphics instead of text for the horizontal menu (use CSS to style the menu as you want).

I also could not see much product. In the menu on the left, the number 14 is shown next to gadgets (I assume this means 14 products) but when I click on gadgets in the horizontal menu I am shown only one product, namely a Jet Board.

Stuart

 

[gary]

OK, here goes...

First off all, remove the redirect page. It serves no purpose apart from being off-putting. Either use .htaccess to do a proper redirect or put your catalog in the root folder.

Then remove everything that is typical osCommerce. All the grey text headlines, for example, are straight out of the box and offer little or nothing to the design of the site. The same goes for all the standard text - either remove it or put it somewhere else.

I would actually get someone to design a decent template that you could use. For a couple of hundred pounds at the most you'll have a well-designed template that you can use in conjunction with the STS Template contribution to improve the look 1000%.

There are also some serious problems with the sense of security customers will feel when shopping there. Firstly, there isn't a phone number or address anywhere (which is a legal requirement anyway, and even though you ask people to contact you by phone for returns!). Also, you want to charge a 15% fee for returns - no way I would buy something that I couldn't just return within a reasonable time period (again, a legal requirement).

It's pointless advertising until you've fixed all these things - you're just throwing money away. You're also advertising in the wrong places, but that's a different post!

Hope that's helpful and not too harsh!

Gary

 

Thanks for the input.

I can not really afford to pay a designer £200 to make a template as I have payed out for stock ect.

But the jist that Im getting is I should forget about using OSC and maybe design the site from the start using DreamWeaver.

 

[gary]

No, you can use osCommerce - there's nothing wrong with it and it can be very powerful (with a bit of work), but you just need a better design (and some adherence to legal requirements!). If you're not a designer yourself then you need someone to do it for you - if you have a poor design you'll never sell anything! It's a common mistake unfortunately, and usually a costly one! Shop around and I'm sure you'll find someone who will do a decent template for you at a reasonable price. Also look up STS in the Contributions section of osCommerce.com as that's by far the best way to manage the design of an osCommerce site.

Gary

 

[Toon]

Wow, can't believe you haven't made one sale. The site isn't too bad although I had to squint my eyes as the colours blended together. I run a business where there are thousands of people selling similar items (branded clothing) and I'm doing OK. Not as good as what I was hoping but it's a good part time wage.
I have tried alsorts of advertising some which work and some which don't. I'd guess that you and I are targeting the same kind of people so how about a banner swap?

Here's the kind of paid advertising I find do NOT work for the type of business we're in:

Publications such as Yellow Pages
Leaflet dropping
Directories such as Nochex Highstreet

Here's what I've found DOES work:

Google adwords (although not really worth the expenditure for the type of income I obtain from it)
Ebay and other auction sites (although quite often can't sell the products for the price I'd like)
Affiliate programs (I have my own program so I only pay when a sale is made so can't lose)

So, I use adwords if sales are a little slow otherwise people find my site via a normal Google search. I like to use Ebay to sell items that are taking up space and I want rid or I know I can get a good profit. Using Ebay is also a good and quick way to obtain email addresses to add to a mailing list. Once a mailing list has been created then you should send emails out say every 2 to 3 weeks detailing new products and special offers.

I also change my special offers regularly and email my customers to let them know of the change.

Finally, I don't mind selling a product and making minimal profit if it means obtaining a customer that I can potentially keep for life and who might make many repeat orders.

Hope this helps. Best of luck and don't forget to contact me regarding the banner exchange.

Karl

 

[SillyJokes]

To be honest I'd look at your competitors, then look at all the other people who are in this field, and boy, there are hundreds, and then I'd sit down and think of a different thing to sell.

 

There must be money to be made if everyone is doing it?

Hmmm, think of something else? Well to be honest I think there must be a online store for anything you can imaging. Oh yeah, ebay does a good job of selling nothing and everything, if you know what I mean.

 

[gary]

I think you can do what others are doing, but you just need to do it a lot better, and focus on a particular area so you become known for that niche.

Gary

 

It doesn't look too bad although it's typical "osCommerce" with menu strips on both left and right which I find very distracting. And the most important links such as "Contact Us" and "How much is the postage" are hidden away bottom left.

Two images are missing from the home page.

I tried to place an order, adding an item to the cart. But I couldn't get to the checkout because it asked for my email address and password. I typed my email address and thought up a password but clicking on "sign in" just got me the same page with an error message "Error: No match for E-Mail Address and/or Password."

There was no way I could continue so I gave up. I wonder if I'm typical?

Look, here's what a typical customer wants to do:-

1. See immediately what's available for sale.
2. Add items to the cart.
3. Select the destination country and see the total invoice amount including postage and VAT. (If these aren't mentioned, he's going to fear the worst and give up!)
4. Knowing his total commitment, enter his name, address and card details to confirm his order.

I know that the standard osCommerce site works back to front - asking for all the details before telling you the total cost. But there are "patches" you can apply to correct this.

By asking a customer to "sign in" as the very first action, you are going to lose at least half of your potential customers. By asking them to complete their details before telling them the total cost, you will lose the other half.

Little wonder, then, that you get no sales!

Also bear in mind that Mr Average doesn't search for things to buy; he searches for INFORMATION. Fill your site with useful, humorous information and you will attract more potential customers who will be tempted to buy.

Hope this helps. Don't give up, just get it right!

By the way, the black links in the dark blue menu bar are virtually invisible on my monitor (a calibrated studio screen).

Take a look at my own web site to see how I provide a usable menu strip at the top. I'm not saying my site is anywhere near perfect but I don't think navigation is a problem.

http://www.satcure.co.uk

Martin

 

By the way, feel free to copy and reword anything from my FAQ section relating to shipping, returns etc.

 

[Eagle]

...I can not really afford to pay a designer £200 to make a template...

Ah, but can you afford not to?...

Visually, the site is less than appealing and it looks cheap. If prospective customers think the site looks cheap, they'll think your service might be shoddy and consequently, they won't order from you.

From a buyers perspective, I'd also be concerned about the low number of items you sell - 25 at the moment? That to me says "this guy's set up a business in his bedroom - why should I trust him with my money?".

Hope this helps!

 

[Anonymous]

i am not sure of other peoples opinions on this but from a web design point of view i would consider the following:

change the redirection page in one of two ways.
1) reduce the java script timing to not create the impression you are being redirected.
2) build a dedicated index page with the option to go to an "about us" section or choose to view your catalogue.

The benefits of this covers a few different ends - having a "you are being redirected" page reinforces the idea you are working out of a bedroom and that the catalogue is more of an afterthought than your core business.
The other main reason is that despite the fact you may well be doing well with search engines you could be doing better if you remove the page. I know search engines will spider your whole site but the page it sees as your index page will always be the most crucial.

if you do create a flamboyant "about us" it can assist in gaining you and your site credibility. (obviously i am not suggesting you lie)!!

I would also suggest, in order to help with one of the earlier points would be remove the "number of items" in the menu.
Again this will help with the credibility issue. I know people will know how many you have when they click the link but removing this will encourage a reason to look. As your products will in a lot of cases will be an impulse buy, if they are discouraged before even looking there is no way they will make an impulsive purchase.

All these points are personal opinions but i hope they help a little.

 

All good points but I'm beginning to wonder if he's actually interested? The two images are still missing from the centre of the home page. A simple error to correct.

I notice, too, that there are no product reviews. This makes it look like a shop that's never been used.

The product details are very skimpy, giving no dimensions or other useful information that might influence a buying decision.

 

Hi All,

Just a little note to say I am listening and I am gradually updating the site with your suggestions, for which I am very happy to be receiving.

As it is a busy time of year (also moving house soon) I am finding it hard to find time, but once everything is sorted I will have a lot more time on my hands.

I would like to add something about the whole OCS issue. I will be changing the look of Gadget XS in the New Year, but if you take a look at the big sites like I want one of those, firebox, play ect. Do they not have info boxes on both sides of the page? I just think this is what the public are use too. Any views?

Please keep the suggestions coming and I wish everybody a Prosperous and Happy New Year!!!

 

The "big sites" can probably afford to lose a few customers. Just because they make it difficult to navigate their sites doesn't make it a good idea for everyone. A shopping site should be relatively uncluttered and should "funnel" the visitor into the shop, while making essential information ("about us", shipping costs, vat, etc.) easy to locate.